ST. LOUIS -- The Blues have made two assistant coaching hires looking at an eye for the future, geared towards how the game has evolved in recent years.
The Blues announced on Wednesday they have hired former NHL defenseman Mike Weber as an assistant coach, and Michael Babcock as skills coach.
They replace Mike Van Ryn and Craig MacTavish, who were let go by the team following the 2022-23 season.
The 35-year-old Weber, who spent the majority of his eight-year NHL career that started in 2007 with the Buffalo Sabres and 10 games with the Washington Capitals before coming to St. Louis in 2016 on a tryout basis, appearing in 351 regular-season games and picking up 53 points (nine goals, 44 assists). He also had 51 points (eight goals, 43 assists) in 237 AHL games.
Weber joins the Blues after spending the past three years as an assistant coach with the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League. He is expected to serve as the defensive coach, the role Van Ryn most recently had.
In 2022-23, he helped guide the Americans to a third-place finish in the North Division and a trip to the Eastern Conference Final.
The Americans reached the playoffs in each of the past two seasons.
Prior to joining Rochester, Weber spent three years as an assistant coach with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League, where he helped lead the team to a third-place finish in the West Division during his final season.
Weber will take the reigns of the defensive side of the coaching duties and run the penalty kill, which finished 27th in the league in goals allowed (298, 3.63 per game) and 30th on the penalty kill (72.4 percent) this past season, some of the worst numbers in their history among Blues statistical categories.
"You end up talking to a ton of different coaches," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "It's great talking to these guys, hearing them out and then you've got to make decisions. They're not always easy, but I don't make those decisions alone. I run them by different people that are involved in our organization, that I trust, talking to our coaches, our general manager, different people, and then you've got to make a decision on what you think fits best."
The 28-year-old Babcock, son of veteran NHL coach Mike Babcock, joins the Blues after finishing the 2022-23 season with the Ottawa Senators. With the Senators, Babcock assisted the coaching staff with developing game plans, pre-scouting and on-ice skill development.
Before joining the Senators, Babcock spent two seasons with the University of Saskatchewan, where he ran the team’s defense and power play. In 2021-22, he helped the Huskies finish with the second-ranked power play in the nation at 28.1 percent.
Prior to his coaching career, Babcock played four years of NCAA Division 1 hockey with Merrimack College, serving as team captain during his senior season. He went on to play professionally with the Gothiques d'Amiens in the French Ligue Magnus, helping the team win the Coupe de France championship in 2019.
Blues general manager Doug Armstrong allowed Berube to take the reigns of searching for the proper hires, allowing Berube to make the choices he felt would best serve him.
"He's working through that process," Armstrong said of Berube recently. "... I'm very impressed with the work that he's doing and the information he's getting back to us. We talk about names and then he goes and does all the research. I don't want to say sign off on it, but when he gets through that, I'll meet the person just to make sure that he's comfortable working with me. I've never had an issue with saying 'no.' Ultimately Craig has to work with them day in, day out.
"We're trying to think outside of the box of how we've structured over the last couple of years, and we could be back in the same box but we also could end up a little bit different."
They have ended up a little bit different, not only in the structure but also in the fact that the Blues have brought in some newer, younger and fresher voices.
"There are some up-and-comers that have caught our interest," Armstrong said prior to the hires. "The game's evolving. You just look at the managers that are getting hired are young. ... There's young players, young coaches. There's always a transition in our game and we are not excluding anyone based on age criteria."
Berube wasn't looking for anything specific as far as veteran coach or a younger, fresher face more so than getting the right fit, whoever that may have been.
"I don't think it was looking for a younger guy, an older guy, I was looking for the right guy I think more than anything," Berube said. "Someone that's going to fit in with our coaching staff and somebody that's going to really help our d-corps and our whole defensive situation and our penalty kill. Mike was the guy for me and [Michael]. He's done a great job there with the Buffalo organization with developing D and really I thought fit into what we were preaching and where we want to get to. I think he's going to fit in really well with our coaching staff. The people you bring in have got to really fit in with your coaching staff and that's important also."
Weber has ties with current Blues assistant coach Steve Ott when the two played together when Ott was in Buffalo from 2012-14.
"They became real good friends," Berube said. "I don't know the whole situation there but they're tight, they're good buddies. 'Otter' had a lot of great things to say about him. It was good. I think that's a good fit. They know each other very well. They're going to be working closer together. That made me feel a lot more comfortable."
As for adding the son of Mike Babcock, for Berube, it was simple.
"We've got a lot of good, young players coming," Berube said. "We're going to need somebody to work with these guys on a daily basis, whether it's video, off-the-ice stuff or on the ice doing skill work, developing, getting them better and working with these guys. I love the age. I love the age where he's at to work with these players.
"Obviously his name, his dad, speaks for itself on the hockey side of the things. Young and smart. I know he doesn't have a ton of experience, but talking to him and other people, I get a lot of good recommendations about him from people."